Today I’m thrilled to have agent Kerstin Wolf here. She is a literary
agent at D4EOLiterary Agency.

Hi­ Kerstin! Thanks so much for
joining us.

About Kerstin:

1. Tell us how you became
an agent, how long you’ve been one, and what you’ve been doing as an agent.

I officially became an agent in early 2019. While I am a
newer agent, I’m not that new to the industry. Prior to becoming an agent, I
worked as a freelance editor. I also interned/assisted for about three and a
half years at a number of literary agencies, publishers, and arts journals. Eight
internships later, and I’m finally an agent! It’s taken me a lot of work and
time to get to where I am now, so I’m thrilled to finally build my own client
list. My main focus at the moment is to expand my client list and prepare my
current clients’ works for submission.

About the Agency:

2. Share a bit about
your agency and what it offers to its authors.

Bob Diforio launched D4EO Literary Agency in 1989 after a
long career at the New American Library, now an imprint of Penguin Random
House. Today D4EO is a full-service literary agency representing authors of a very
broad range of commercial fiction and non-fiction for children, young adults, and adults.

Books represented by
the agency have topped the New York Times and USA Today bestseller
lists, and agency authors have received awards that include the Daphne du
Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense and the Nero Award, as well as
nominations for the Hugo Award, among many other notable successes.

With over 1,500
published books under contract, the agency has launched the writing
careers of more than two hundred authors.

What She’s Looking
For:

3. What age groups do
you represent—picture books, MG, and/or YA? What genres do you represent and
what are you looking for in submissions for these genres?

I represent MG, YA,
and adult novels! Genres that I always love to see for MG include fantasy,
science fiction, mystery, and horror. Genres that I’m interested in YA include
fantasy, science fiction, horror, and contemporary romance. If you would like
more details on what I’m interested in, I’d recommend checking out my website
and #MSWL!

4.Is there anything you would be especially
excited to seeing in the genres you are interested in?

Dragons and demons! I’d love to see some dragons and demons!
Give me all the fantastical and unique creatures! I’m also a sucker for strong
world building. I want to be completely immersed in this world you’ve created! Of
course, bonus points are awarded for delicious food in the manuscript.

What She Isn’t
Looking For:

5. What types of
submissions are you not interested in?

I’m not really looking for contemporary realistic fiction in
MG. I’m also not a good fit for historical fiction in MG or YA if there are no
magical elements.

Agent Philosophy:

6. What is your
philosophy as an agent both in terms of the authors you want to work with and
the books you want to represent?

My views are all about the best interests of the author and their
long-term career. I want to build long-term relationships with my authors and
help them have enjoyable and fruitful careers. I value hard work, but I also
realize that writing can be difficult. I don’t want my authors to be so stressed
that they can’t enjoy the little things.

Growth is also important. I want to help my authors grow and
improve their craft. They need to be able to take critique well and be
open-minded to revisions. I love working with authors on new ideas for future
manuscripts. The more ideas they have brewing, the better!

As for my philosophy with books, I want to feel it deep in
my bones. I want to soar with hope and die of laughter. I want to feel my heart
being torn from my chest when the protagonist is betrayed or when a character
is killed. I want to feel every little bit of it.

Editorial Agent:

7. Are you an
editorial agent? If so, what is your process like when you’re working with your
authors before submitting to editors?

I am definitely an editorial agent! I’m almost always
editing something or discussing new possibilities and ideas. When I go through
and edit a manuscript for the first time, I always mark it up using Track
Changes and include a short edit letter at the end of the manuscript discussing
the main issues. A phone call is then arranged to discuss possible changes and to
toss ideas around. After that point though, the process changes depending on
the author and the manuscript.

I do not accept queries
through email, mail, or the contact form on my website.

With your query
letter, please include the first ten pages of your manuscript and the
comparative titles. Really, everything that I’d like to see is listed in the
form.

9.Do you have any specific dislikes in query
letters or the first pages submitted to you?

I always recommend
that query letters focus more on the plot and main characters than what readers
should get or feel from the manuscript. If I’m unsure of what the book is about
or don’t know who the main characters are, then I’m not as likely to request
more. Also, please know a handful of comparative titles for your manuscript. If
you can’t list a single comparative title, then it appears to me as though you
don’t read within the genre you’re writing in.

As for
personalization, all you need to do is have my name in the greeting. It is
preferable that you spell my name correctly. More personalization than this
will definitely make you stand out, but it doesn’t ultimately make it or break
it for me.

Response Time:

10. What’s your
response time to queries and requests for more pages of a manuscript?

It all depends! My response time can vary from an hour later
to months later. It really just depends on what’s going on at the moment. When
I’m editing multiple manuscripts, my response time tends to get slower. You
will always receive a response back from me though! I always notify authors of
my decision.

Self-Published and
Small Press Authors:

11.Are you open to representing authors who have
self-published or been published by smaller presses? What advice do you have
for them if they want to try to find an agent to represent them?

Of course! My only
piece of advice would be to query a manuscript that has never before been
published.

12. With all the changes
in publishing—self-publishing, hybrid authors, more small publishers—do you see
the role of agents changing at all? Why?

Everything is always changing. I’m sure my job will look
very different twenty years from now, but I do believe that the primary role of
agents will stay the same. True agents will always stand for authors’ best
interests and be their allies.

Clients:

13. Who are some of
the authors you represent?

I currently represent the extraordinary Lynn Jung and the
brilliant Brandy Howell! Both are currently working on YA fantasy novels that
are going to knock your socks off!

Interviews and Guest
Posts:

14. Please share the
links to any interviews and guest posts you think would be helpful to writers
interested in querying you.

If you can believe it, this is actually my first agent interview!
I’m so thankful to have been given this opportunity by Literary Rambles!

Links and Contact
Info:

15. Please share how
writers should contact you to submit a query and your links on the Web.

16. Is there any
other advice you’d like to share with aspiring authors that we haven’t covered?

Keep writing. Every single word you write is a step in the
right direction. Every word is progress.

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Kerstin.

­Kerstin is generously offering a query critique to one lucky winner. To
enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follower button if
you're not a follower) and leave a comment through June 29th. If your e-mail
is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the comments to
enter either contest. If you do not want to enter the contest, that's okay.
Just let me know in the comments.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this
in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. This is an international
giveaway.

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating?
Please leave a comment or e-mail me at natalieiaguirre7@gmail.com

Note: These agent profiles and interviews presently focus on agents who
accept children's fiction. Please take the time to verify anything you might
use here before querying an agent. The information found here is subject to
change.

I love so many things about this interview. Your search for MG titles, your editorial skillset, and the way you put an author's health first. I'd love an opportunity for a query critique. Thank you for offering such a gift to the community.

I love this advice! I am always interested in learning more information about how to best pitch a fantasy series to agents. Thank you for taking the time to educate writers through this interview, and for your generous offer to critique someone’s query letter!

Thanks for the insight! I really appreciate the energy you put into your work, from making it as an agent, to being an involved editorial agent, to always responding to queries. THANK YOU for that part especially :) I would love the opportunity for a query critique. I tweeted this too.

This is such a wonderful interview and opportunity that I shared it on Twitter. It's so delightful to be introduced to such an encouraging and hard working agent. I've added her to my query list for my latest novel and would love a query critique!

Great interview! I love the demons and dragons part (they're usually just the bad "thing" the protagonist has to kill, but they deserve to be the main character). I would love a query critique, thank you for the giveaway! a.chernaeva@gmail.com

What an interesting interview. I enjoyed learning more about Kerstin and what she looks for when deciding to work with an author. I won't enter the query critique this time, as I don't need one at the moment- but what a generous giveaway. :)~Jess

Great interview. On your agency's website, it says, "If you query one and receive a query rejection, you may choose to query another agent at the query level only." Since I am new and am rapidly improving my query, I would like to submit a better query to a new agent--I really like D4EO. Would this be frowned upon? Twitter: @PhilYff

I love Kerstin's eclectic tastes in literature, and I share them both as a reader and a writer. That, and her commitment as an editorial agent, would make her a wonderful person to work with. Not to mention the query critique giveaway! I posted a link to the interview on my Facebook author page, J. Lee Strickland

I cannot wait to query her! I have followed her on Twitter for awhile, and she seems so incredibly passionate about what she does. I admire that she has learned about so many different facets of the literary world, which is such a huge asset for an author to have in an agent. YA fantasy query will be coming her way!